"Fire Dragons Roar!" Natsu bellowed out the wall of flames, surrounding the man who was behind Lucy's capture. Lisanna and Happy pressed themselves against the door frame, out of Natsu's way but still ready to jump in if he needed them. Natsu leaped into the blaze and the two lost sight of him, as if it was fog he dived into and not deadly flames. The two shivered at the shrill cry they heard echo off the concrete walls. Lisanna was amazed; she had known Natsu was strong, but this strong and ruthless? She hadn't realised how much Lucy's disappearance had affected him.
Emerging from the flames and smoke Natsu appeared, dragging a very burnt and crispy Umbraphile. He threw the body to the ground and Lisanna winced at the sickening crack his head made when in connected with the old concrete floor. The man wheezed slightly but didn't bother to attempt to sit up. Natsu pounce of him, grabbing what was left of the once fine material of his now tattered shirt and pulling his upper half up of the cold stone. "Where is she?" Natsu growled slamming the man back into the ground. "What have you done to her?" Natsu yelled, pure hatred flaring within him. He continued to shake and slam the man into the cracking concrete.
A small wheezing laugh broke from the man, as his bloodied hand wrapped around Natsu's wrist. With surprising strength he hadn't shown before he pulled the fire dragon's grip from his shirt and flung Natsu down as if he was a useless pillow. The small laugh became a spine chilling bellow. "Boy, if only you know the things I've done to my Lulu," he said, circling Natsu. Lisanna stood by the doorway, frozen to the spot. How had Natsu lost the advantage? "She's not yours! And if I find out you've harmed a single hair on her head I'll turn you to fucking ash!" Natsu screamed, jumping to his feet, flames once again roaring around him. Once more the man laughed. "You are a mere child compared to me. I've had centuries to learn things you couldn't hope to learn in your entire life!" He said eyeing Natsu with faint amusement.
Without waiting for him to continue Natsu jumped at the man, flames exploding half a metre around him. The man met him head on throwing a punch into to Natsu's rib cage, fracturing at least one rib. Natsu fell back from the impact of the bony fist and coughed, a small amount of blood dripped out of his mouth. Lisanna gasped and moved forward to jump to Natsu's aid. Before she could Happy's small paw grabbed her shoulder. "He's fine Lisanna, he's been through worse." She looked at the blue exceed his eyes serious, moved back to watch the man advance onto Natsu. "I know how to sever a man's spine and stop their heart at the same time." He threw a well-aimed kick at Natsu's chin, knocking him flat on his back. "I know a place on the back where a single punch will snap your body in half," another kick was delivered to Natsu's stomach; he coughed again, a small pile of blood forming beneath his mouth. "I know just how to please a woman, even when she thinks she doesn't want it as MY Lulu has discovered over the past three months."
Lisanna felt she stomach roll, begging to empty its contents once more, screaming to vacate what was left in her stomach. The man's foot flung forward and was heading for Natsu's head, a hand engulfed in fire wrapped around the leather covered foot. Natsu's grip tightened and a crack echoed through the room. The man cried out in pain as he felt the bones in his foot break from the pressure. Slowly Natsu threw the man to the ground and hovered above him, his right hand shooting out and wrapping around his throat, "You want to say that again?" Natsu said in a calm and even tone. An incoherent gurgle rose from the man's lips. Flames began to eat away at his skin and raw screams broke through the stale air, Lisanna stared wide eyed, never in her life had Lisanna felt scared of Natsu, but now... She wasn't sure if she could look him in the eye after this. "You will never touch her or anyone else ever again." With a swift motion Natsu snapped the man's neck Lisanna and Happy flinched at the sickening crack and moved back as Natsu surrounded himself with blue flames. Burning the lifeless body to ashes.
The vast amount of bodies in the room turned to dust leaving need little piles in their place. For a long time Natsu sat over the ashes staring at them as if the mocked him. "Natsu?" Happy said moving over to his adoptive father. "Let's head back to the meeting point, someone would have found her by now. She'll need you." Happy said, small paw grabbing Natsu's hand and pulling his arm. Slowly Natsu got up and left the room, never looking back.
Slowly Gajeel make is way to Lucy's side reaching out to touch her broken hand. She flinched before he could make contact. "Lucy?" He asked in a low voice, she lifted her head to slowly meet his eyes. The fear in Lucy's eyes was like a kick in the teeth. This was the girl who had stood up to him with no defences, after being beaten and kicked into walls, that had still faced him with nothing but determination in her eyes? But looking at her now, Gajeel knew the beatings and the torture she had taken over the past three months couldn't compare to the bee sting he gave her. Slowly he crouched in front of her as her head flopped back down, her chin coming to rest on her chest. "Lucy?" his voice was gentle and calm.
He couldn't help but notice Lucy was naked. He looked her over to see if there was anything that needed him to perform first aid. Her ribs were protruding and he could easily count them. Across her torso various cravings broke her skin and from the looks of it they were fairly new. They differed from the phases of the moon to intricate twirls that could be part of a language, reluctantly her looked to Lucy's legs, feeling dirty that her was eyeing her body this way but he needed to know the extent of her injures before he dared to move her. By the looks of the bruising, both legs were broken to prevent a possible escape and the blood caked on the inside of her thighs indicated carve her skin and break her legs wasn't the only thing they had done.
Gajeel tried his best to seem as small and as unintimidating as possible which a new experance was for him. He looked round to see Lucy's bloody lifeless face; slowly he removed the gag from her mouth. A rough wheezing cough escaped her and Gajeel reach to gently rub soothing circles on her back "NO!" she screamed, her voice hoarse from lack of water or prolonged screaming, for all Gajeel knew it could be both. "Please, no more. Just kill me already. Please." She sobbed, as small cries escaped her chapped lips.
Gajeel was shocked, never in all his life did he think he'd hear a Fairy Tail mage… no, never did he think he'd hear Lucy begging for death. "Lucy." He said gently, hoping the smoothness of his voice would calm her cries. When it didn't work he tried again, "Lucy… Lucy its Gajeel, I'm here to get you out." He whispered hoping to get through to her. The sobbing stopped and her head flopped to the side. "Ga-, Gajeel?" she whispered, head slowly rising. Relief flooded into Gajeel slowly he reached out to the chained hand. "Yes Lucy, Gajeel. Stay still." Gajeel broke from her cold gaze to stare at the chains on her wrists, each on bonded her arms to the armrests. From the swelling of her wrists breaking the chains wasn't an option.
As fast as he possible could Gajeel formed his index finger into a key and carefully unlocked her right wrist. Lucy cried in pain, even the smallest movement hurt her broken wrists. "I'm sorry Lucy, be prepared I have to move the other one." Slowly he repeated the action on the left wrist. Only a small sob escaped her as she bit her bottom lip to prevent herself from screaming, a small steam of blood flowed down her chin. "Gajeel?" she said softly, moving her pinkie finger to lightly touch his hand before it moved away from her. "Yes Lucy?" he had to fight the temptation to call her bunny girl. "Please… Don't leave me. Promise to take me home." She begged, he never thought he'd hear her beg him for anything. "Of course Lucy. I won't leave you, I'll be beside you the whole way, and so will everyone else. We'll always bring you home."
He lightly touched her fingers before reaching for the hem of his shirt. Lucy flinched back fearing what his next action would be. Gajeel removed the iron wring from the shoulder of his shirt before slowly pulling it down over Lucy's naked form. A small sob escaped her as her limbs moved and the rough material rubbed against her cut and bruised skin. "Lucy, I have to carry you to get you out, it's going to hurt but you need to be quiet okay?" He knew how hard it'll be but he could afford to have to fight an Umbraphile with a damaged Lucy in his arms. A small nod was all he received from her. Warily he scooped Lucy up bridal style and only a tiny snivel escaped her. He turned his back from the chair and carried her to the broken doorway, holding the broken girl as close as he could, praying someone had killed the clan head already.
Erza and Gray's chamber, much like the others were empty except for a small room at the end, blocked by a wooden door. Quickly Gray opened the door with an ice key, hoping Lucy would be behind it unharmed. It was empty except for a small pile of dust and her once finely polished keys. Normally they would shine gold, even if they weren't in sun light. Now they were a dull black and covered in month's worth of dust. "That explains why Loki and Lucy's spirits didn't come to her aid." Erza said, fear entering her system.
"What did they do to them?" Gray asked reach for the stellar keys then pulling his hand back, scared what would happen if he touched them. "It's okay to touch them Gray, there's just a magic block on them." Gray reached out for the and carefully pulled them into the palm of his hand. The star signs at the top were no longer visible; it was as if the keys were dead. "How do we remove it?" He asked hoping that they could fix them before Lucy saw them like this. "We can't," Erza said "They'll go back to normal when Lucy touches them, or if she… you know." Erza said, reluctant to finish the sentence. Gray carefully pocketed them and looked around the room. "Nothing here, it's just a store room. Lets head back someone will of found her and we can work on making things right." Gray exited the room with Erza following close behind.
Levy and Panther Lilly rushed down the chamber towards a topless Gajeel. "You found her!" Levy yelled causing Lucy to flinch; she reached out to grab the blondes hand only to be met with a croaky scream. "NO! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Lucy yelled ignoring the screaming pain of her body as she moved closer to Gajeel's warmth. Levy pulled her hand back and back away slowly. "Lu-Chan?" She whispered and hurt look crossing her face. "Bookworm, we need to head back. What happened to the girl?" He asked fighting down the urge to comfort her. Getting the shaking blonde out of here and back to the guild was the main thing right now.
"She turned to dust; someone must have killed the clan head." She said with no emotion, eyes locked on to the silently crying Lucy. Gajeel watched her, waiting for her to burst into tears or to start shaking. She didn't do anything but stare. "Levy," he said using the same tone he'd used earlier with Lucy. "It's not your fault; she doesn't know it's you at the moment." He said hoping to calm her. Levy looked up eyes swelling with unshed tears, and determination clearly displayed on her face. "Let's go and get Lu-Chan out of this hell hole." Levy turned and walked back the way they'd come, leaving a speechless Lilly and Gajeel behind her. "What a mood change." Gajeel said following the blue haired girl while Lilly only nodded his head in agreement.
Sad thing is, it'll only get worse from here… be prepared for a very angry Loki, an upset Happy, an guilt ridden Erza and Gray and a heartbroken Natsu. Also lots of Gajeel actually caring and Levy possibly crying idk. We'll see what mood I'm in. Should be too long a wait, I'm sort excited to write the next chapter. Sorry about the spelling in the last chapter. Last time I wait till right before bed to finish writing, don't hesitate to tell me about spelling mistakes I'll go back and fix them.